About the Book

The Ling Shu, also known as the Ling Shu Jing, is part of a unique and seminal trilogy of ancient Chinese medicine, together with the Su Wen and Nan Jing. It constitutes the foundation of a two-thousand-year healing tradition that remains active to this day. Its therapeutic approach is based on a purely secular science of nature, with natural laws serving as guidelines for human behavior and medical treatment. No other text offers such broad insights into the thinking and manifest action of the authors of the time. Following an introduction, this volume contains the full original Chinese text of the Ling Shu, an English translation of all eighty-one chapters, and notes on difficult-to-grasp passages and possible changes in the text over time on the basis of Chinese primary and secondary literature of the past two thousand years and translator Paul Unschuld’s own work. The Ling Shu reveals itself as a completely rational work, and, in many of its statements, a surprisingly modern one. It will provide the foundation for comparisons with the nearly contemporaneous Corpus Hippocraticum of ancient Europe and today’s iterations of traditional Chinese Medicine as well.

About the Author

Paul U. Unschuld is Professor and Director of the Horst-Goertz Endowment Institute for the Theory, History, and Ethics of Chinese Life Sciences at Charité-Medical University, Berlin. His previous books include Medicine in China: A History of Ideas and What is Medicine? Western and Eastern Approaches to Health Care.

Reviews

"Seasoned familiarity with the text from decades of study, and the rich battery of critical tools supplied in these publications mark a profound turning point."—East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine

“Paul Unschuld’s translation of the Ling Shu is the first academic-quality translation of a seminal Chinese medical classic. . . . This work is a foundation block in what has long been a gaping hole in the essential literature on Chinese/Asian medicine.“—Z’ev Rosenberg, the Alembic Institute

“This new and complete Ling Shu translation is exemplary. . . . Unschuld’s translations are milestones, above all for making available in fluid English entire Chinese texts based on his broad knowledge of the commentary traditions and his awareness of the historical specificity of the Chinese language in relation to basic medical concepts.”—Donald Harper, University of Chicago

Chapter 1 The Nine Needles and the Twelve Origin [Openings] Chapter 2 To Consider the Transportation [Openings] as the Foundation Chapter 3 Explanatory Remarks on the Small Needles Chapter 4 The Physical Appearances of Diseases resulting from the Presence of Evil qi in the Long-term Depots and Short-term Repositories. Chapter Root and Connection Chapter 6 Longevity, Early Death, Hardness and Softness Chapter 7 The Official Needles Chapter 8 To Consider the Spirit as the Foundation Chapter 9 End and Beginning. Chapter 10 The Conduit Vessels Chapter 11 The Conduits and their Diverging [Vessels] Chapter 12 The Conduit/Stream Waters Chapter 13 The Conduits and their Sinews Chapter 14 The Measurements of the Bones Chapter 15 The 50-fold Circulation Chapter 16 The Camp Qi Chapter 17 The Measurements of the Vessels Chapter 18 Camp [Qi] and Guard [Qi] – Generation and Meeting Chapter 19 The Four Seasonal Qi Chapter 20 The Five Evils Chapter 21 Cold and Heat Disease Chapter 22 Peak-illness and Madness Chapter 23 Heat Diseases Chapter 24 The Receding [Qi] Diseases Chapter 25 The Diseases and their Roots Chapter 26 Various Diseases / 315 Chapter 27 Circulation Blockage-illness Chapter 28 Oral Inquiry Chapter 29 The Transmissions from the Teachers Chapter 30 Differentiation of the Qi Chapter 31 Intestines and Stomach Chapter 32 A Healthy Person Ends the Ingestion of Grain Chapter 33 On the Seas Chapter 34 The Five Disturbances Chapter 35 On Swelling Chapter 36 The Separation of the Five //Protuberance-Illnesses// Jin and Ye Liquids Chapter 37 The Five Observation Points and the Five Emissaries Chapter 38 Movements Contrary to and in Accordance with the Norms, Being Well Nourished and Being Malnourished Chapter 39 The Blood Network [Vessels] Chapter 40 Yin and Yang [Qi], Clear and Turbid [Qi] Chapter 41 The Ties between Yin and Yang [Qi] and Sun and Moon Chapter 42 The Transmission of Diseases Chapter 43 Excess Evils release Dreams Chapter 44 The Qi Moving in Accordance with the Norms Divide a Day into Four Time Periods Chapter 45 The Assessment from Outside Chapter 46 The Five Modifications Chapter 47 To Consider the Long-term Depots as Foundations Chapter 48 Prohibition and Appropriation Chapter 49 The Five Complexions Chapter 50 On Courage Chapter 51 The Transport [Openings] on the Back Chapter 52 The Guard Qi Chapter 53 On Pain Chapter 54 Years Given by Heaven Chapter 55 Movement Contrary to and in Accordance with the Norms Chapter 56 The Five Flavors Chapter 57 Water Swelling Chapter 58 The Robber Wind Chapter 59 When the Guard Qi Lose their Regularity Chapter 60 The Jade-Tablets Chapter 61 The Five Prohibitions Chapter 62 Transports Chapter 63 On Flavors Chapter 64 The Yin and Yang [Categorization] and the 25 Human [Types] Chapter 65 Five Tones, Five Substances Chapter 66 The Generation of the Hundreds of Diseases Chapter 67 The Application of the Needles Chapter 68 Upper Barrier Chapter 69 Grief, Rage, and Speechlessness Chapter 70 Cold and Heat Sensations Chapter 71 Evil Visitors Chapter 72 To Penetrate Heaven Chapter 73 Function and Competence Chapter 74 Discussing Illness; Examining the Foot-long Section Chapter 75 Piercing to Regulate True and Evil [Qi] Chapter 76 The Movements of the Guard Qi Chapter 77 The Nine Mansions, the Eight Winds Chapter 78 On the Nine Needles Chapter 79 The Dew of the Year Chapter 80 On Massive Confusion Chapter 81 Obstruction- and Impediment-Illnesses